- Dr Sherzada says NTS works under well-thought-out SOPs to ensure professionalism
The Education Testing Council (ETC), backed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), has no threat to the future of well-organised and well-equipped National Testing Service (NTS), as almost all the higher educational institutions are conducting tests through NTS so far.
During his exclusive talk with Pakistan Today, NTS Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Sherzada Khan said that NTS was a multi-activity organisation; hence it works under well-thought-out standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure professionalism in the activities and optimize the chances of success of each activity.
In July 2002, the NTS was established in response to a need for a testing service in the National Education Policy (1998-2010) and the Information Technology (IT) Policy of the federal government, which conducts tests and assessments for admissions, scholarships, recruitments and promotion purposes.
Dr Sherzada said that NTS has no issue with HEC and he was ready to sit with HEC chairman to find out mutually-agreed solution to the minor issues, which creates unnecessarily confusion for students as well as for the universities.
The HEC and NTS is at lock horn since the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) judgment dated January 23, 2014, in which it categorically stated that the NTS had not been approved by the HEC to act as a testing body under the HEC Ordinance 2002, hence the universities were not bound to conduct through NTS.
Therefore, the court directed the HEC to establish its own testing service for the purpose, which it did so in the shape of ETC and subsequently directed all universities to conduct tests through ETC.
Dr Sherzada said that the HEC had no mandate to run a monitoring and testing body simultaneously under its role and it has to conduct tests through some testing service agencies. Therefore if HEC was willing, they were also ready to provide their services to the commission in this regard, he said.
“The universities are autonomous bodies. Therefore, HEC neither forced the universities to not conduct tests through NTS nor it bound them to conduct tests mere through the ETC,” he added. To a question, he said that the NTS has 15,000 well-trained staff across the country, besides having 3000 high qualified subject specialists, who help in contents and papers making.
“We conduct tests at district levels and there is no other testing service in the country having such a wide-spread network,” he added. The acting CEO said that since there was always room for improvement; hence they were all-set to introduce biometric system as they have already sought help of NADRA in this regard so as to stop impersonation.
He said that they don’t conduct tests where locals were trying to influence or tried to pressurise the NTS staffers that was why no test would be held in Bunir and Batagram districts in future where invigilators were pressurised to get favour.
About business impacts of HEC and NTS issue, he said that NTS being a self-sustained testing organisation, it obviously would have negative impact on NTS business if the universities would start conducting their own tests or through any other body.
“We are working vigorously to bring the far-flung, backward and most-neglected areas at par with the settled areas; hence around Rs 170 million has been dispatched under various scholarship programmes to enable the students to get education in standard educational institutions,” he said.
“A total of Rs 10 million scholarship has been provided to students belonging to South Waziristan Agency and Rs 10 million to Khyber Agency, while negotiations are underway for providing Rs 10 million scholarship to students of North Waziristan Agency as well,” he added.
He said that transparency, merit, fairness, reliability and zero-tolerance policy in administering tests and assessments were the hallmark of the NTS that was the reason all major institutes of the countries including the Supreme Court (SC), high courts, security agencies, NAB and IESCO etc were conducting tests through NTS.
He said that fool-proof methods have been adopted to make the tests transparent, as any inconsistency to the client related to tests was reported and prompt action has been taken; hence no one could manipulate the results.
However, he said that it was quite easy to criticise but there was open challenge if anyone has any proof of giving any undue favour or giving one additional mark to any candidate whosoever. “NTS uses e-marking software for swift marking system by using OMR technology. This system automates e-marking of forms (answer sheets) and helps efforts in reducing testing and assessment and marking time considerably,” he added.
To a question that the HEC testing service will be free-of-cost for students, he said that the commission would use public tax money; hence it could prove too costly as the commission has to make recruit on large scale to make its testing service a success though its chances are quite bleak at present, because most of the universities refuse to follow the HEC dictations.
Nts has made good money…now its hecs turn. The people continue to be treated like sheep in a herd being readied for slaughter.
it’s a good decision to bring a sort of transition as significant mass of people has been fed up with the examination policy of National Testing Service.
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